Brussels Wednesday 24 October 2012: Youth unemployment in Europe has peaked at record levels and shows little sign of slowing.  Against this dramatic backdrop and the potential for a lost generation in Europe, in March 2012 the European Commission launched a campaign with leading stakeholders aimed at raising awareness about opportunities for work that can be won through the acquisition of e-Skills.

The European e-Skills Week has successfully rolled out more than two thousand events across thirty seven European countries. Focusing on addressing the mismatch between supply (existing job opportunitites in the ICT market) and demand (people lacking the appropriate skills for these jobs), the European e-Skills Week aimed to reduce ICT skills shortages and motivate young people to study ICT and improve their employability through e-Skills. Job opportunities to be won through digital skills, innovation and competitiveness opportunities for Europe were the focus of the campaign.

Drawing together more than 1,800,000 participants across the EU and beyond, the European e-Skills Week events programme was delivered through a remarkable joint effort by industry, educational and training institutions, governments, public bodies, associations and NGOs.

One highlight of this major awareness raising campaign was the "Project Passion" competition which gave the opportunity for young people to create their own campaigns built to highlight the value and importance of e-Skills and how they help all people improve their chances of getting a job. The lucky winner was awarded internships with EuroNews in London and TBWA Worldwide in Paris.

The e-Skills Manifesto – a publication linked to the European e-Skills Week – was published in July and has been translated into 22 languages. World renowned author of the book Wikinomics, Don Tapscott, penned the introduction to the Manifesto which includes submissions from leading thinkers from education, industry and government and provides a clear path for a winning strategy for an e-Skilled Europe.

The European e-Skills Week reached over 130 million touch points through traditional media, social media and events.  

Find out more about European e-Skills Week here: http://eskills-week.ec.europa.eu

Download the e-Skills Manifeto here: http://tinyurl.com/8gngzkg

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Media Enquiries: Natalia KUROP – DIGITALEUROPE, Director - Communications & Marketing

www.digitaleurope.org M. +32 487 34 05 71 >> E. natalia.kurop@digitaleurope.org

For up to date information on the e-skills project please contact:

Jonathan Murray, Project Director, DIGITALEUROPE jonathan.murray@digitaleurope.org
Tel: + 32 2 609 5328

Caroline Bergaud, Corporate development and partnership-building, European Schoolnet

caroline.bergaud@eun.org, Tel: +32 2 790 7579